Yue Lao Oracle Lot 35 · Poor

遇人之不淑矣。 I married someone who was not good.

The lot

Background: what the original says

The poem describes a woman who, in a year of famine, is abandoned by her husband and laments that she married the wrong man.

"In the Valley Grows the Motherwort" is one of the songs of the royal domain in the Book of Songs. It opens with motherwort in a valley scorched dry by the sun, then turns to a woman forced to leave her home. The three stanzas deepen step by step: first a sigh, then a long wail, then quiet weeping. Her words move from how hard the marriage was, to having married the wrong man, to regret that comes too late.

The Mao Preface reads the poem as a lament for the declining Zhou state: the bond between husbands and wives had worn thin, and when famine came, families abandoned one another. Some later scholars argued there is no need to bring in the royal court; it is simply a cast-off woman telling her own story. The lot's line comes from the second stanza. The poem holds no curses, only sighs; the lot uses it to ask whether a partner would stay when times turn hard.

What it means

This person may not be a good partner. Look carefully, and do not rush to commit your future.

Reminder: If you have doubts, slow down and listen to what the people around you think.

This is a plain reading of the words and their source. How it applies to your own question is best settled with the interpreter at the temple where you drew it.

How to ask Yue Lao for a lot

1. Yue Lao, the Old Man under the Moon, usually has a side shrine inside a larger temple, such as a City God temple or a Mazu temple. Follow the temple's route: pay respects to the main deity first, then go to Yue Lao.
2. Tell Yue Lao your name, birth date and address, describe where you are in love right now, and state the one question you want to ask (for example, "Will this relationship last?" or "When will I meet someone?").
3. Cast the moon blocks (jiaobei, two crescent-shaped wooden blocks) to ask whether you may draw. One face up and one face down means yes; then pull one stick and cast again to confirm it. Many temples ask for three yeses in a row; if not, draw again.
4. Collect the slip with the matching number. Yue Lao lots are quotations from old books, so the meaning often depends on the original passage. If it is unclear, ask the temple's interpreter.

Ask about one thing at a time; the more specific the question, the easier the lot is to apply. Yue Lao lots are for love and marriage only; for other matters, use the temple's general fortune poems.

Common misunderstandings

Previous: Lot 34; next: Lot 36.